Food Porn Reviews: Hinoki & The Bird

First things first: I won’t be addressing the tragedy today surrounding MH17. It’s a horrific event and nobody in the world needs a snarky food and travel writer such as myself weighing in. Back to our regularly scheduled programming…

Have you ever been to Japan to experience the Tanabata Star Festival? I haven’t, but I have been to Hinoki & The Bird, a fantastic restaurant in LA’s Century City area where Chef Kuniko Yagi is serving gorgeous five-course meals every week in July from Tuesday through Friday. I made a video about my experience and trust me, the food is just as good as it looks. (video slightly NSFW because of salacious audio)

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Comments

Not… a fan of your videos. While I think one in this style would be funny and a nice monotony breaker, having *every single* video in your series modeled after this passes the border of being distasteful. For Hinoki & the Bird, this doesn’t present the restaurant’s classy, artful, and delicate food or experience accurately. Same for Fundamental where I’ve eaten a few times… It’s a fun, stylish, and warm restaurant with amazing, well-crafted food. Not in your video though.
– The slo-mo effect is maddening. I think the content and what you’re trying to get across is good, but the slo-mo makes me not want to watch the whole thing. I can only stand about 5 seconds for each video and end up clicking through.
– The voice… It was funny the first time for a few seconds, but then it wasn’t; I can’t imagine listening to this all the time. It doesn’t make me feel hungry about the food and in fact, it turns me off.
– The “uhh” soundbite at the very beginning – I thought I was hearing things the first time but when I heard it on the second and third videos, I couldn’t believe it. It’s sexist and doesn’t give your videos a good vibe. You’re taking the “theme” too far.
– Are you really a food journalist? “These baby artichokes are so….. so…… tender. ” Seriously?? There must be more meaningful things to say about that dish.